The Diplomat
The Spanish Red Cross has 171 projects underway – one of them focused on responding to the crisis in Ukraine – involving 4,681,684 people. The projects are being carried out in Africa (78), America (48), Europe, Asia and the Middle East (30), and another 15 are of a global nature, according to information provided yesterday by the organisation.
Coinciding with the celebration today, 19 August, of World Humanitarian Day, the Spanish Red Cross said that so far this year it has carried out 105 missions: 50 in Africa, 11 in the Americas and 44 in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
In Ukraine, for example, the Red Cross has assisted 5.4 million people, a “response that extends throughout the European continent” where the institution is assisting people in 15 countries who have been forced to flee the country.
“In Spain, more than 112,000 people have been assisted by the Red Cross in the reception system”, deploying 32 international delegates in six months in different rotations to collaborate with the International Federation of the Red Cross, according to the institution.
In 2021, the figure reached 7,364,956 beneficiaries in the 159 total projects. Most of them aim to “assist people affected by disasters, people without livelihoods, or migrants and refugees,” according to the Red Cross. They also include measures for women in distress, people affected by violence or conflict, and people with health problems.
Among other humanitarian operations in 2022, the Red Cross focused particularly on population movements in South America and Central America, and on addressing the growing social tension and insecurity in Haiti.
In the coming months, the organisation will pay special attention to the food crisis in Africa, “the most serious in decades, with 323 million people in a situation of severe food insecurity”. The Spanish Red Cross said it is already developing 16 humanitarian assistance projects in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
